Brake failure indicator for Automobiles

Published on 20 May 2022. Written by Athulya Menon

Over 40% of the road accidents that occur around the world, occur due to some issues related to brake failure. So, what can we do about this as engineers? As the number of vehicles on the road increase exponential, with every passing year, ensuring road safety becomes a principal concern. As engineers, we must create devices and concepts that will help to solve every-day problems. Brake failure is one such problem that hounds the automobile industry.

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In this article, we will find a solution to this issue. Here's a look at how to build a project that focuses on an automobile brake failure alarm.

Project Description

As brake failure is the primary cause for most road accidents, there must be some way to prevent this from happening. If not prevent, at least identifying brake-related issues will help us to reduce the number of road accidents that occur every year.

Early identification of brake failure will help to reduce the accident rate. Hence in this project, we will build an Automobile Brake Failure Indicator, that will help us solve this problem once and for all. This project will track the braking system of the vehicle at all times, and let the driver know if something seems wrong.

Working:

When the vehicle moves and the driver applies the brake, a green LED will blink, and simultaneously a small buzzer will sound.  The brake wire transmits a signal voltage of a predefined strength which a signal conditioning unit identifies and it flashes the corresponding LED. If the brake fails, the electrical connection between the drum brake link and the lever will break, causing the electric buzzer to beep, indicating the driver that something is amiss and that he or she should stop driving.

What causes Brake failure?

1. Worn out brake pads
2. Cut brake wire
3. Long use
4. Damage in brake wire
5. Damage in brake lining
6. Lack of oil
7. Excessive heating of brake pad

Project Implementation

• The 555 Timer must be made to work in a stable mode so as to produce clock pulses.
• A stable mode of a timer is used while making circuits that require blinking lights or periodic switching.
• Configure the timer to 0.3 seconds ON and OFF time.
• Calculate the values for the resistor and capacitor for this pulse period.
• Connect the positive end of both the Buzzer and LEDs to the 3rd pin of the 555.
• The BC557 must be connected to the drum brake mechanism to detect breakages in connection.
• Brake wire must be fed to the base of the transistor.
• To the base, the GREEN LED must also be connected.
• Therefore, when the brake is applied, the base gets 5V and it passes to the green LED, making it blink.
• Connect the buzzer and LEDs to the transistor free end.
• When the wire is damaged, the base of the transistor gets cut off, and this drives the RED LED and buzzer circuit, indicating the driver of the same.
• You can also build the circuit using IC CA3140 as a voltage comparator.
• In this case, you must use timer NE555 in a monostable configuration.
• The inverting switch of the Voltage comparator must be connected to the brake switch through a diode 7812-resistor combination.

Concepts Used

• Basic Mechanics
• Parts and Components of an Automobile
• Mechanics of motion
• Circuit-making and design
• Microcontroller programming
• Basic Electronics
• PCB Design Software

Kit required to develop Brake failure indicator for Automobiles:

• Resistor
• Capacitors
• 555 timer
• LED
• wires
• piezoelectric
• Drum brake
• Wheels

Technologies you will learn by working on Brake failure indicator for Automobiles:

• Mechatronics
• PCB design
• C Programming

Any Questions?